The worldwide semiconductor market is forecast to expand 7.2 percent in 2011 from last year, driven by robust demand for smartphones and tablet PCs, a market researcher said Thursday.Revising up its earlier forecast, IHS iSuppli estimated that global semiconductor revenues will reach $325.9 billion this year, compared with $304.1 billion in 2010. It previously estimated 7 percent annual growth.The

Korea’s financial watchdog plans to curb excessive growth of household debt by tightening banks’ loan-to-deposit ratios and requiring non-bank institutions to raise loan-loss reserves, its head said Thursday.Korea is grappling with snowballing household debt as heavy indebtedness is feared to crimp economic growth by putting restraints consumer spending. The government plans to unveil a set of mea

Korea Eximbank should focus on long-term projects of a global scale as the key export credit agency of the country, Finance Minister Bahk Jae-wan said Thursday. Speaking at a forum organized by the state-run bank, Bahk said, “The Bank should reduce short-term products such as trade financing, which can be mainly provided by the private sector, but increase mid- to long-term financing for large-sca

Failure of two brokerages’ merger dims prospectsThe nation is facing a stumbling block in establishing a large-scale investment bank although the chief financial regulator has unveiled a policy toward activation of IB businesses.The pessimistic view comes after KDB Financial Group failed to take over Woori Financial Group amid an uneasy sentiment between the two state-run financial companies.There

Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s No. 2 mobile-phone maker, said Thursday that it has released the Galaxy S2 smartphone in Japan through the country’s largest mobile carrier, hoping to build on the popularity of its earlier model. NTT DoCoMo Inc. has started sales of Samsung’s latest Android smartphone earlier in the day, Samsung said in a statement. The Korean company added that the latest Gal

LG-Ericsson said Thursday that it hoped the launch of its Long Term Evolution network would give it the top spot in the country’s telecommunications industry.Lee Jae-ryung, chief executive officer of LG-Ericsson, said that the company expects to surpass its peak sales figure of 1.1 trillion won recorded in 2008 with the nationwide introduction of fourth generation LTE networks.“It’s difficult for

Global millionaires’ ranks rose by 8.3 percent last year as the Asia-Pacific region overtook Europe for the first time, according to a report by Capgemini SA and Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management. The number of individuals with at least $1 million of investable assets increased to 10.9 million after markets rebounded following the financial crisis, according to the 15th annual World Wealth Re

Watchdog’s move comes as price-fixing, collusive wrongdoings on increaseThe Fair Trade Commission will step up efforts to crack down on international cartels, promising stern punishment for those engaged in unfair trade practices or abusing their market dominance, commission chief Kim Dong-soo said Wednesday. “A typical example of foul play in the market economy is cartels, the No. 1 enemy of the

Sales of smartphones running Google Inc.’s Android software surpassed the 10 million mark in Korea this week, according to data from the country’s mobile carriers Wednesday.The country’s largest mobile carrier, SK Telecom Co., had 6.18 million subscribers using Android smartphones as of Monday, while runner-up KT Corp. had 2.06 million, they said. Smallest player LG Uplus Corp. lured in 1.86 milli

Creditors of Korea Express Co. are expected to select a preferred bidder for a major stake in the country’s top logistics company next week as they move to complete the sale as early as August, industry sources said Wednesday.Creditors led by Korea Development Bank agreed to close the bidding for a 37.6 percent stake in Korea Express on June 27 and notified the three preliminary bidders ― POSCO, C